Lesson Three 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
PROBLEMS IN VISITATION-- What Would You Do?
Visitation can be very emotional. As parents are healing, they still need to learn skills to be good parents. Sometimes visitation problems can irritate and upset resource families. The following exercise lets you practice ways to deal with problem situations.
INSTRUCTIONS: Read the situation below and think about what you might do in each situation. To learn the most from this exercise, read the situation and in the text box under each question, enter at least two suggestions of how you might deal with the situation.
SITUATION #1: What if the birth parents of your child often miss visits and your child is very disappointed? He cries, yells and throws a tantrum. What are two things you might do in this situation? (ENTER YOUR ANSWERS INTO THE TEXT BOX BELOW.)
SITUATION #2: What if you don’t like the birth parent or have strong feelings about him or her? What might be your strategy in this situation?
SITUATION #3: What if phone calls, emails or letters from a birth parent are inappropriate or misleading? The parent is using bad language or is making promises that he or she can't keep? What should you do in a situation like this? What is your role as a resource family?
SITUTATION #4: What if visits are uncomfortable for a child because his birth parents ignore him or just don’t know what to do with him? What might you do to help a family have a better, more constructive visit?
SITUATION #5: What if the child just doesn’t want to see the family and doesn’t want to go on the visit? What would be your role in this situation? What would you say to a child?
SITUATION #6: What if a child is upset at the end of the visit and doesn't want his birth family to leave? What would be your role in this situation? What would you do?